If you're found with child pornography, you should expect to spend some time in prison - often many years. Judges sentence the convicted to prison even when the convicted did not produce the pornography itself. Possession alone will get you years. Why?
Judges and prosecutors insist that if people would stop downloading child porn, then the demand for child porn would decrease. Decreased demand would lead to a decrease in supply. But since you did download the porn, people who exploit children have an incentive to continue exploiting them - in other words, to provide a supply to meet the demand. That's a legitimate argument.
Yet the government did not apply that line of argument to Elliot Spitzer, the former New York Government who committed money laundering and violated the Mann Act. According to U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia, the man who declined to prosecute Spitzer:
In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the longstanding practice of this office, as well as Mr. Spitzer's acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, we have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter.
DOJ's "longstanding practice" is to prosecutor prostitutes rather than the men who demand their services? But why? If men did not demand prostitutes, then there would be no market for prostitutes. The same line of thinking that demands harsh prison sentences for possession of child pornography should apply to people like Elliot Spitzer. If Spitzer didn't create the demand, prostitutes wouldn't provide the supply.
I suspect that DOJ, being male-dominated, is simple misogynistic. Other than sexism, there is no way to justify DOJ's no-prosecution policy, especially in light of DOJ's stance on child pornography prosecutions and sentences.
DOJ's policy should be reformed immediately. Those who demand prostitution, thus creating a market for it, should be punished. To the extent DOJ is regulating prostitution at all, it should do so even-handedly. It should respect equal protection under the law. Men and women should feel the government's wrath.
